#Setting

[mumblingsage]

Also a great addition on the replies from @heroisagirlsname. Specific details -- including/especially those that might not fit in advertising copy -- can make a scene more vivid, interesting, and plausible.

I'm even thinking of how the same detail can go from being a neutral or positive detail to a flaw (or vice versa) to mirror the character's attitude: for instance, Amrita might find the low lighting in the restaurant cozy and romantic as she waits for her girlfriend to arrive for their date*; then, realizing she's been stood up, she decides she'll have dinner anyway, but why is this place so dimly lit, do they not want her to read the freaking menu?! Meanwhile when she's buying flowers the day after her girlfriend proposed to her, she finds the soil spilled on the floor endearing.

*I suppose she might even go "Hmm, is this what they mean by ambiance?" But I feel like in most cases it's not a natural word for non-copywriters to use.

There's this...not exactly trend, or an overwhelmingly frequent issue, but a recurring issue in multiple different manuscripts I've worked on with different clients where the text segues into "tourist brochure" or "sales website" language when the author is trying to do scene-setting. Obviously I don't want to quote anyone's real work, but think "the beach was a pristine expanse of white sand" or "the main street of our quaint rural town held a variety of charming businesses selling handcrafted goods" or "the bar gleamed under tasteful chandeliers that created an ambience of muted luxury." Insofar as I'm exaggerating, it's in how I clutter the buzzwords into a single sentence rather than having them appear scattered throughout a paragraph.

Anyway. My advice is not to do this, unless you have a particular reason you can articulate for why your character is speaking about their own life like they're an agent for the tourist board. You might slip into this as sort of 'placeholder' language when you know you need to give the reader some sense of where things are happening, but your brainpower is going to a different part of the story. That's why we work in drafts.

Generally, though, if a character is so un-emotionally involved with the scene that they can describe it like a copywriter who's phoning it in, maybe you've got something about the scene wrong. (Or it might just be a single line that falls into mood whiplash. I've seen emotional conversations suddenly break into Advertisement for Delicious Food at Local Restaurant when the waitress arrives laden with trays from which arise the mouth-watering aromas of...for crying out loud.)

[literaryvein-reblogs]

more words for characterization (pt. 4)

Age

adolescent, afresh, ancient, antiquarian, antique, big, childish, crude, doddering, elderly, fresh, full-grown/full-fledged, green, hoary, immemorial, infant/infantile, junior, late, medieval, mint, modish, new, novel, older, old-fashioned, originally, outdated/out-of-date, passé, quaint, refreshing, secondhand, stale, state-of-the-art, undeveloped, up-to-date, well-preserved, youthful

Appearance

adorable, aesthetic/esthetic, artistic, beautiful, comely, crisp, dapper, decorative, desirable, dressy, exquisite, eye-catching, fancy, fetching, flawless, glorious, good-looking, graceful, grungy, hideous, homely, irresistible, natty, ornate, plain, pretty, refreshing, resplendent, seductive, spiffy, striking, stylish, ugly, unbecoming, willowy, with-it

Genuineness

abstract, actually, alias, apocryphal, apparently, arty, authentic, baseless, beta, bona fide, circumstantial, concrete, contrived, credible, deceptive, delusive, dreamy, ecclesiastical, empirical/empiric, enigmatic/enigmatical, ersatz, ethereal, factual, fallacious, fantastic, far-fetched, fictitious, foolproof, fraudulent, good, hard, historical, honest-to-God, illusory/illusive, imitative, indisputable, invisible, just, lifelike, made-up, magic/magical, make-believe, matter-of-fact, metaphysical, monstrous, mystic/mystical, mythical/mythological, nonexistent, openhearted, ostensibly, paranormal, physical, positive, pretended, quack, quite, realistic, right, sincerely, specious, spurious, supernatural, synthetic, tangible, true, unearthly, unnatural, unthinkable, unvarnished, unworldly, valid, veritable, wholehearted/whole-hearted, wrong

Movement

ambulatory, brisk, clumsy, fleet, fluent, frozen, gawky, graceless, immobile, indolent, itinerant, leisurely, lifeless, liquid, lithe, maladroit, migrant/migratory, motionless, moving, nomadic, oafish, passive, pendulous/pendent, portable, restless, roundabout, sedentary, slow, speedy, static, vibrant, winding

Style

adorable, baroque, becoming, black, bold, brassy, cheap, class, classy, contemporary, country, cultural, dashing, dowdy, eat high on the hog, exquisite, featureless, flamboyant, floral, flowery, formless, futuristic, garish, gay, glamorous, gorgeous, grand, graphic, hot, improvised, informal, innovative, kinky, loud, lush, luxurious, mean, meretricious, modish, neat, new, obsolete, old-fashioned, orderly, ornamental, ostentatious, outdated/out-of-date, palatial, picturesque, plush, posh, prevalent, quaint, refined, resplendent, rustic, scruffy, sharp, simple, sleazy, smart, snazzy, spiffy, spruce, stately, state-of-the-art, stylish, swank/swanky, tacky, tasteless, tousled, two-bit, unbecoming, unworldly, up-to-date, vogue

NOTE

The above are concepts classified according to subject and usage. It not only helps writers and thinkers to organize their ideas but leads them from those very ideas to the words that can best express them.

It was, in part, created to turn an idea into a specific word. By linking together the main entries that share similar concepts, the index makes possible creative semantic connections between words in our language, stimulating thought and broadening vocabulary. Writing Resources PDFs

Source ⚜ Writing Basics & Refreshers ⚜ On Vocabulary

[thedescentnovel]

never ending hwy

[pratchettquotes]

The wind howled. Lightning stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin. Thunder rolled back and forth across the dark, rain-lashed hills.

The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which gods moved men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of this elemental storm a fire gleamed among the dripping furze bushes like the madness in a weasel's eye. It illuminated three hunched figures. As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: "When shall we three meet again?"

There was a pause.

Finally another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: "Well, I can do next Thursday."

Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

[sincerelytennessee]

[elumish]

I am once again reading something set in a city that I have lived in written by someone who clearly has not done much/any research about that city.

I recommend doing the bare minimum of going on Google Maps and seeing if places are within easy walking distance of each other before you have people walking from one place to another.

Other things you might want to research are:

How do people generally travel?

What types of public transportation exist/what are they referred to as (e.g., subway vs metro)?

How can someone literally get from Point A to Point B?

If you're writing about a metropolitan area, who lives in the city versus the suburbs/exurbs?

Who lives in what parts of the city/town/area?

Is your character likely to rent versus own?

Are they likely to be able to afford to live alone?

What attractions are tourist attractions versus places where locals go?

What third places might exist?

[dailyadventureprompts]

Settlement: Kaelvalon, Throne of the Once and Never King

Artsource 1 Artsource 2

Despite it’s dusty summers, muddy winters, and reputation for being a brutish backwater among other inhabitants of the kingdom, the rugged province of Drigveria holds a beauty and dignity all its own. This is no better exemplified by the province’s capital of Kaelvalon, which presides over the surrounding wilderness like a gemstone emerging from course rock.

Built as a safehold during an age of monsters and warlords by the hero Kaelrik, this sturdy bastion and the town that surrounds it is the best place in the badlands for a group of adventurers to find work, shelter, and a few homey comforts before setting out on their next expedition.

Who’s Hiring: 

Increasing dangers on the road lead a pair of ambitious merchants to hire the party as escorts, bringing them into conflict with the corrupt soldiers who’re supposed to be in charge of keeping the roads safe. 

Early in their travels the party will meet a royal surveyor looking to explore the rugged terrain of the province’s wilds. A good friend to have, if you don’t mind the espionage he’s doing on the side. 

An ambitious noble wants the party to search the skeleton of a titanic dragon to find the fabled weapon that killed it. He’ll pay well, and absolutely won’t betray them. 

While visiting the market the party see an acolyte of the goddess Istus telling fortunes, when she divines for them, she demands they make pilgrimage to a temple in the mountains, a temple it’s rumoured to be impossible to reach. 

Rumours of arcane artifacts lead the party to an isolated orcish village built in a crumbled wizard’s tower. To win their favour, the party must investigate why one of their traders has gone missing in human lands. 

The ruler of Kaelvalon, the Marquess Talmis Younge, has a problem. Or rather, three problems that are going to make eachother infinitely worse. The first is that she’s trapped in a loveless marriage to a man named Selvin who she dare not divorce for fear of angering some of her most vital bannermen. The second is that she’s having an affair with an orc named Irgyr, who happens to be one of the clan leaders of her people’s traditional enemies. The third is that after years of “diplomatic meetings” with the clan leader, she’s fallen pregnant with her lover’s child, and the due date is approaching. She doesn’t want to give up the child, but giving birth to a halforc out of wedlock will be all the fodder Selvin needs to raise support and oust her from power.   Perhaps the party could be convinced to look into her husband’s dealings, if they can expose or fabricate his involvement in some kind of treason or illegality, she’ll be able to break from him before shit hits the fan.  

From the statue in the town square to the toasts still raised in his name, the legacy of the hero  Kaelrik’s looms large in the heart of Drigveria’s people even centuries after his death. Once merely a wandering adventuer, Kaelrik’s dauntless defence of the innocent in an age of war saw him hailed as a hero and later crowned as king of a fledgeling realm. 

All legends must end though, and after defeating warlords, wizards, and the challenges of the wilderness itself, Kaelrik gave his life plunging into an ancient dragon’s maw to impale its heart upon his blade. 

Or at least, this time he did. 

Beyond his own bravery and skill, one of the keys to Kaelrik’s success was his relationship with a woman named Nyramie, an oracle of Istus: goddess of fate. What began with duty and fellowship blossomed into love, and each time Kaelrik went into battle he would act upon Nyramie’s divinations, however impossible they might seem, to seek the best outcome for the people they protected. 

The last time he came to her, Nyramie wept. The goddess had revealed to her Kaelrik’s ultimate fate and the oracle broke, at once faithful to her patron’s plan and raging at the betrayal, the years of hardship and sacrifice and the future they had hoped to share all snatched away by divine edict. Contradiciton met miraculous power and Nyramie’s heartbreak fractured time; one outcome where she stayed silent and left Kaelrik to his fate, and another where she forged a destiny defying artifact in the form of a jagged red crystal. While holding it Kaelrik would be able to see all possibilities that led toward his victory, and would be able to survive his clash with the otherwise invincible wyrm. 

What Nyramine could have never predicted was what would happen to Kaelrik once untethered from his fate and given a tool that would provide such easy answers. His victories mounted and his kingdom spread, as he became a warlord to rival and then exceed any of those he’d fought. A desperate fight for survival turned into a quest for supremacy, and when the borders of his dominion were secure, Kaelrik’s ambitions turned intward. He was as fearsome a king as he was a hero, and he ruled for centuries thanks to his elven blood and Nyramie’s gift, becoming crueler as time and necessity hardened his heart. 

Eventually his subjects had enough, the outer reaches of his kingdom rising in rebelion and descending upon his capital of Kaelvalon with such force that there was no possibility for Kaelrik or his loyalists could fight his way out. No possibility, save the one the crystal showed him where he used its power to pass across the divide of time, to the fork where he had never established his kingdom. It required great and terrible sacrifice, but he managed it… and at some pivotal moment, Kaelrik the once and never king will emerge into the province of Drigveria through a crimson gate along with his legion, and will set about building his kingdom anew. 

Future Adventures: 

Chronal anomalies will begin popping up in the prelude to Kaelrik’s arrival. Strange red lighting storms, artifacts from the other timeline drifting through, to say nothing of the various extraplanear entities that might be attracted by such disturbances. 

Kaelrik’s emergence happens shortly after Talmis has given birth to her child, posing a direct threat to her legitimacy as a ruler and giving her detractors one HELL of a symbol to rally around. The once and never king is all too happy to embrace these new supporters, overjoyed to find a populace that adores him the same way they adored his younger self. Add to this his distrust of the orcs of Felstar’s Faultering, who turned out to be one of the factions that rebelled against him first. 

To defeat Kaelrik, the party will need to lay their hands on the presentworld mirror of his objects of power: his crown ( in Talmis’s possession), his sword (lost in the dragon’s skeleton), and his crystal (buried in the heart of the impossible to reach temple of Istus). When these items are assembled not only will they give the party an edge in combat against him, but they will also (at the right hour, we’re in full prophecy territory here) summon the ghost of Sydagul, the dragon that was to be Kaelrik’s doom in the first place. Queue the party fighting on top of a castle against an extratemporal tyrant while a skeletal dragon the size of a mountain bears down on them. 

If you’re considering what to do for your next adventure arc, consider having all the temporal shenanigans unleashed by Kaelrik’s meddling attract the cannibalistic god of entropy, who’s cult is liable to start popping up in those continuity-orphaned soldiers who’ll flee to the hinterlands when their boss bites the dust. 

[honourablejester]

I love the sentences you get with science fantasy. Just. The things you get to say.

I’m reading Starfinder’s Ports of Call sourcebook (1e), which has part of a chapter describing the galaxy the setting is set in. At the centre of said galaxy is a titanic black hole nicknamed Old Rovagug (after the vanished god of destruction) which supplies the gravity needed to hold the galaxy together. And we get this spectacular sentence, a result of the fact that Starfinder is a science fantasy setting using D&D style planes of existence:

“Like most black holes, Old Rovagug tears open millions of momentary rifts to the Negative Energy Plane every second, allowing creatures like spectral undead, gargoyle-like sceaduinars and titanic darvakkas to escape into the surrounding space. These interlopers rampage across any worlds they can reach before the oppressiveness of reality inevitably disintegrates them.”

… Like most black holes. Like most black holes, Old Rovagug tears millions of holes into the plane of death on the regular, allowing undead to escape into nearby space until the raw weight of reality reabsorbs them. As, you know. Black holes do. Apparently.

This is followed by:

“Unlike most black holes, Old Rovagug radiates light-year-wide entropic tendrils. Seeming to ignore material physics, these tendrils extend and roil outward like solar flares for thousands of years before fading and being replaced by new projections. Like black holes, they aren’t directly visible, instead being observed only by the empty spaces they leave behind—most often along the accretion disk, earning them the name Whiskers of the Sun-Eater for how they radiate from the lightless center of the galaxy.”

This black hole also radiates reality-shredding thousand-year-long entropic flares. Most black holes don’t do that. It’s just this one.

I just. I love the things you get to say. Most black holes, you know. They summon spectral undead. Didn’t you know that about them?

[stackofsnakes]

People don't really think about the relationships characters have with their respective settings until you take Harry du Bois and have him solve a crime on Sesame Street.

[writingwithcolor]

Characters reconnecting with their ancestral cultures in an interplanetary setting

@pixiedustandpetrichor asked:

Hi! I am writing a novel with three main female characters in an interplanetary setting. They grow up as orphans in an Irish-coded country and as children are mostly exposed to solely that culture, but they leave after becoming adults. Character A is Tuareg-coded, B Mongolian-coded, and C is Germanic-coded. It isn’t central to the story, but I would like them to get in touch with/learn more about their ancestral cultures, especially in terms of religion. A does this by actually visiting the planet her parents came from, but B and C do not. What can I do to depict their relationships with said cultures and their journey to reconnect with them? Would it be realistic for each of them to have different mixed feelings about participating in these cultures and for them to retain some sense of belonging to the culture they grew up in as well? Thank you for your time.

Hello, asker! WWC doesn’t have Tuareg or Mongol mods at the moment, so we're not able to speak to the specifics of cultural and religious reconnection for these particular groups. Still, I want to take this opportunity to provide some general context and elements to consider when writing Tuareg-coded characters, or other characters from groups that have experienced colonization in the real world. My fellow mods will then share thoughts about cultural reconnection in general and with respect to Germanic heritage in particular.

Drawing inspiration from groups that have experienced colonization

As you’re probably aware, the Tuareg are an ethnic group indigenous to North Africa. As with many indigenous groups, they have experienced colonization multiple times over the course of their history. Colonization often leads to the loss or erasure of certain aspects of culture as the colonized people are pressured to conform to the culture of the dominant group. In many cases, it’s near impossible to say what the ancestral culture of a colonized group was prior to colonization.

When coding a fictional culture based on a group that was colonized in the real world, it's important to ask questions about:

Which aspects of culture you're portraying

Where these aspects come from

Whether you're ready to tackle their implications for the world you're building

It’s not necessarily wrong to use elements of coding that draw from cultural aspects influenced by colonization. As I said, it can be very difficult, even impossible, to portray a “pure” culture as it would have been had colonization not occurred–because we simply can’t know what that alternate history would look like, and because so much has been lost or intentionally suppressed that the gaps in our knowledge are too wide to breach. But it’s important to be aware of where these cultural elements are coming from.

Where is your coding coming from and what are the implications?

For example, while the Tuareg today are majoritarily Muslim, this was not the case prior to the Arab conquest of North Africa. Some elements of Tuareg culture today, such as tea ceremonies, are derived from the influence of Arab and Muslim culture and likely did not exist prior to the 20th century. As you’re developing the culture of the Tuareg-coded group in your fictional setting, you have to decide whether to include these elements. There is no right answer–it will depend on what you’re trying to do and why.

Is your setting in our far future, in which case we can assume your Tuareg-coded group is distantly related to today’s Tuareg?

In that case, they will probably have kept many cultural aspects their ancestors acquired through their interactions with other cultures around them–including cultural groups that colonized them. They may–let’s build hopeful worlds!–have reclaimed aspects of their ancestral culture they’d been forced to abandon due to colonization. They may also have acquired new aspects of culture over time. This can be very fun to explore if you have the time and space to do so.

I would recommend speaking with Tuareg people to get a better grasp of how they see their culture evolving over the next however many centuries or millennia, what they wish to see and what seems realistic to them.

Alternatively, maybe your setting is a secondary world unrelated to ours and you only want to draw inspiration from the real-world Tuareg, not represent them exactly. In that case, you need to decide which period of history you’re drawing from, as Tuareg culture is different today from what it was 50 years ago, and different still from 200 years ago or 1000 years ago. You’ll need to research the historical period you’re choosing in order to figure out what was happening at that time and what the cultural influences were. If it’s pre-colonial, you’ll probably want to avoid including cultural elements influenced by colonization from groups that arrived later on.

Finally, if the time period you’re drawing from is post-colonial:

Are you planning to account for the effects of colonization on Tuareg culture?

Will you have an in-world equivalent for the colonization that occurred in real life?

For example, will the Tuareg-coded characters in your world be from a nomadic culture that was forced to become sedentary over the years and lost much of their traditions due to colonial pressure to conform?

Where did this pressure come from in your world–is it different from what happened in ours? If so, how different? And what are the consequences?

Writing about colonization can be quite the baggage to bring into a fictional setting. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it will certainly require sensitivity and care in portraying it.

In summary: think it through

I’m not saying all this to discourage you, but to point out some of the considerations at play when drawing inspiration from a real-life culture that has experienced colonization. Similar challenges arise for coding based on any other indigenous group in the world.

My advice to you, then, is to first sit down and decide where and when in history your coding is coming from, and what you’re trying to achieve with it. This will help you figure out:

which elements of contemporary Tuareg culture are pertinent to include

How much your coding will be influenced by the Tuareg’s real-life history

To what extent that will inform the rest of the world you’re creating

This, in turn, may help in deciding how to portray your character’s reconnection journey.

Again, I am not Tuareg and this is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of considerations for writing Tuareg-coded characters, only a few places to start.

If any Tuareg or Amazigh readers would like to chime in with suggestions of their own, please do. As always, please make sure your comments adhere to the WWC code of conduct.

- Niki

Pulling from diaspora and TRA narratives of cultural reconnection

Marika here: This ask plotline could also pull directly from diaspora and TRA narratives of cultural reconnection. Many diaspora and TRA cultural reconnection stories are, in effect, about navigating the difficult process of resuscitating, or renewing ties to culture using limited resources in environments that often lack necessary cultural infrastructure or scaffolding.

See this question here to the Japanese team for suggestions of how to handle such a storyline in a similar sci-fi setting.

More reading: Japanese-coded girl from future

-Marika

Reconnecting with German heritage

Hi, it’s Shira. I’m not sure whether German-Jewish counts as Germanic for the purposes of your post but since German Jews were more assimilated than other Ashkies, Germanness does feel real and relevant to my life (especially because my father worked there for approximately the last decade of his life.) NOTE: when I see “Germanic” vs German I think of cultures from 1500 years ago, not 100-200 years ago, so I can’t help you there, but I’d be surprised as a reader if a character focused on that for reconnection to the exclusion of the 19th century etc.

People in the United States specifically, reconnecting with German heritage, often lean into Bayerischer/Bavarian kitsch, I’ve noticed. Personally, though, what I find most relevant is:

1. The food (although I’ve come to learn that what I grew up eating was closer to veal/chicken scallopini than actual schnitzel because it was drenched in lemon, but I do like the other foods like the potato salad and sweet and sour red cabbage etc.) Your character could try making one of these “ancestral” foods as a way to reconnect?

2. The classical music, because I’m a second generation professional musician – if character C plays an instrument, leaning into that might be meaningful (Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and her husband Robert, etc.)

3. The nature, especially specifics that I enjoyed during my time there – personally, I loved the bright pink flowers all over the chestnut trees, but there are a lot of choices especially because of the Alps. If C is an artist maybe they can sketch something Germany-related from old photographs they found on the Space Internet?

I think it is VERY realistic for the characters to remain connected to the culture in which they were raised, by the way, whether or not they have positive feelings about it. Culture isn’t an inherited trait. Sure, if they want to completely walk away, they can, but I bet there are still ways it will creep back in without them realizing it simply because it’s really hard to have universal knowledge of the origins of all our quirks. Plus, not everyone feels alienated from their raised-culture just because they’re genetically something else.

P.S. There is also Oktoberfest, which I don’t really get into but is a thing, and beer, which is another point of German cultural pride.

German gentiles, weigh in – y’all have your own stuff, I know! OH YEAH so for German Christians, Christmas “markets” are a whole thing. That’s worth looking up. 

–S

What do you mean by Germanic?

Hello it’s Sci! I had to study German history for my historical fantasy novel set in the late 18th century Holy Roman Empire. I am not sure what is meant by Germanic as that can encompass a variety of things.

Germanic people: from the Classical Period of Roman Empire and early Middle Ages. Similar to Mod Shira, I unfortunately can’t help very much here.

The Germanosphere: regions that spoke German, which includes modern day Germany, Austria/Hungary, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Belgium, and Luxembourg. I generally define this as the regions captured in the Hapsburg Empire along with Switzerland usually encompassing “Central Europe.”

Modern German national identity (i.e. German): post Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna (> 1815) only including the territory of modern day Germany.*

I ask this because modern German national identity is surprisingly recent since Germany only popped up in 1871 under Otto von Bismarck. Previously, Germany was divided into smaller states and city states as a very decentralized region under the German Confederation and before that, the Holy Roman Empire. Depending on the era, you can see different conflicts and divides. During the early days of the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther, the northern and southern German territories generally split along Protestant-Catholic lines. The 18th century saw Austria and Prussia as the foci of global power who warred against each other even though both were part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Other states and city-states like Baden-Wurttemberg or Saxony sometimes had power but it was typically more localized compared to Austria. Post-WW2, you saw the split of Germany into West Germany run under capitalism and East Germany run under communism as a satellite Soviet state leading to more modern cultural divides. Due to heavy decentralization historically, each region had its own character with religious and cultural divides. 

Assuming that the Germanic character is not from the classical period or early Middle Ages but not from the 19th century either, you can include your character reconnecting to classical folklore like that of Krampus (if they’re Christian), German literature and music like the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Mozart, or German philosophy like Immanuel Kant.

*A major wrinkle: German royals and nobility married into other states and nations frequently with Britain and Russia being notable examples. In Britain, the House of Hanover took over after the Stuart House died without clear direct heirs. When Queen Victoria married the German prince Albert, they celebrated Christmas with a tree and brought the German tradition of a Christmas tree to Britain and the British Empire. Only during World War I did the royal family’s house of Hanover name change from House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the more “English-sounding” Windsor. As a result, the German cultural influence may be even more widespread than we think.

However, without more specific descriptors of what Germanic means in the context of your story, it can be difficult to determine which aspects of German culture your character could reconnect to.

-Mod Sci

[emilywrites185]

List of Quirks

(The categorized lists are below)

What is a quirk?

Quirks are habits, attitudes, mannerisms, or behaviors that are unusual, unexpected, or strange.

People have quirks, and your characters and locations should too. Think obsessions, a silly or unusual laugh, habits like pacing around the room, knuckle cracking, or braiding or twisting hair while thinking. Someone could always be cold, even in the summer without AC. An old man could have the habit of checking his mailbox twice a day, so much so that there is a path of trampled grass leading to his mailbox.

Locations can have quirks. The front door might have to be pushed or pulled in a certain way to engage the lock. The sink faucets could be switched. The hot water tap could really be the cold water tap despite the label.

Think of somewhere you've lived or a person you knew. What stood out to you about them? What did you find bizarre, aggravating, or charming about them?

Quirks will serve as the little details that will make your characters and settings lifelike. These quirks will say a lot about what you are describing, and they can even be used to allude to something important in your plot. There could be significant explanations to the quirks you choose which can add a layer of depth to your story.

Personality Quirks:

Thorough planner

Never plans for anything

Lone wolf

Needs approval

Adventurous

High strung

Takes things seriously

Skeptical of everything

Loves to argue

Avoids people

Avoids touching people

Honest to a fault

Impulsive liar

The Martyr

Sensitive

Abrasive

Compulsive flirt

Ambitious but lazy

Behavioral Quirks:

Picks at nails

Smokes only certain brands

Drinks a homemade concoction of choice

Tops their food with a specific dressing or additional ingredient

Loud laugh

Subdued laugh

Whistles or hums when walking

Always misses the trash can

Touches their face when they talk

Gets a stomachache at tense moments

Stutters when talking to someone attractive

If they clean is always a deep clean

Avoids public restrooms

Collection of ducks

Collections in general

Very loud sneezes

Kitten sneezes

Hisses when thinking

Always sounds angry even when they aren't

Has a hard time articulating feelings or desires

Often gets cliches or common phrases wrong

Physical Quirks:

Twitchy eye

Twitchy foot

Extremely flexible

Extremely inflexible

Two colored eyes

Chipped nails

Long perfect nails

Distinctive weight distribution

Very short

Very tall

Distinctive marks like birth marks or scars

Clothes/accessories:

Wears new clothes but has an old beaten-up suitcase or bag

Fingers full of rings

Never seen without makeup

Never wears their hair down

Cracked glasses

Socks never match

Old people sweaters

One sock pulled up, the other falling down

Half tucked shirt

Always a pen in the shirt pocket

Wears only a specific color

Crooked pins or name tag

Wears anything with their favorite animal

Wears slippers out in public

Location Quirks:

Squeaky steps

Window that jams

Lot full of old trees

A popular place of business with limited, inconvenient hours

House locks that are hard to open

A front door without weather stripping

Plumbing that rattles when water runs

Whistling windows

Creaky couch

Wavy, uneven floors

Always windy

A yard where critters are always seen

A public place that seems to attract certain people or animals

Always spotless

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing References: World-Building

20 Questions ⚜ 100 Words for World-building

Basics: World-building ⚜ Places ⚜ Imagery ⚜ Setting

Exploring your Setting ⚜ Habitats ⚜ Kinds of Fantasy Worlds

Fantasy World-building ⚜ World-building Vocabulary

Worksheets: Magic & Rituals ⚜ Geography; World History; City; Fictional Plant ⚜ A General Template

Editing

Setting & Pacing Issues ⚜ Editing Your Own Novel

Writing Notes

Animal Culture ⚜ Autopsy ⚜ Alchemy ⚜ Ancient Wonders

Art: Elements ⚜ Principles ⚜ Photographs ⚜ Watercolour

Creating: Fictional Items ⚜ Fictional Poisons ⚜ Magic Systems

Cruise Ships ⚜ Dystopian World ⚜ Parts of a Castle

Culture ⚜ Culture Shock ⚜ Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism

Food: How to Describe ⚜ Lists ⚜ Cooking Basics ⚜ Herbs & Spices ⚜ Sauces ⚜ Wine-tasting ⚜ Aphrodisiacs ⚜ List of Aphrodisiacs ⚜ Food History ⚜ Cocktails ⚜ Literary Cocktails ⚜ Liqueurs ⚜ Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables

Greek Vases ⚜ Sapphire ⚜ Relics ⚜ Types of Castles

Hate ⚜ Love ⚜ Kinds of Love ⚜ The Physiology of Love

Mystical Objects ⚜ Talisman ⚜ Uncommon Magic Systems

Moon: Part 1 2 ⚜ Seasons: Autumn ⚜ Spring ⚜ Summer

Shapes of Symbols ⚜ Symbolism ⚜ Slang: 1930s

Symbolism: Of Colors Part 1 2 ⚜ Of Food ⚜ Of Storms

Topics List ⚜ Write Room Syndrome

Vocabulary

Agrostology ⚜ Allergy ⚜ Architecture ⚜ Baking ⚜ Biochemistry

Ecology ⚜ Esoteric ⚜ Gemology ⚜ Geology ⚜ Weather ⚜ Art

Editorial ⚜ Fashion ⚜ Latin Forensic ⚜ Law ⚜ Medieval

Psychology ⚜ Phylogenetics ⚜ Science ⚜ Zoology

More References: Plot ⚜ Character Development ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[thedescentnovel]

the descent

[pratchettquotes]

And the sun toiled across the sky. Many people have wondered why. Some people think a giant dung beetle pushes it. As explanations go it lacks a certain technical edge, and has the added drawback that, as certain circumstances may reveal, it is possibly correct.

Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

[artschoolglasses]

Love this messed up library...

Dragon Age: The Veilguard