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Oh my gosh. I just found this website that walks you though creating a believable society. It breaks each facet down into individual questions and makes it so simple! It seems really helpful for worldbuilding!

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if background character then why make them more interesting than the main characters

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emails my behated

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Source.

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50 Interesting OC Asks

1. What is a rumor people tell about them? 2. How long would they last in the zombie apocalypse?  3. If they’re about to get in a fight, what song plays in their head as their ‘hype song’? 4. How important is family to them? 5. If they had a theme song, what would it be? 6. What’s a movie they can quote from start to finish? 7. Are they more of a leader or a follower? 8. If they were given 1000 acres of land with no strings attached, what would they do with it?  9. If they had to flee their home country, where would they live? 10. Do they think psychic abilities exist? Which one would they like to have? 11. What was their favourite fairy tale growing up? 12. What’s a skill or craft they would like to master, but haven’t? 13. How did they find out Santa isn’t real? 14. What’s a personality trait they wish they had? 15. Do they believe in getting revenge on those who wrong them? If so, how do they go about it? 16. If they were arrested with no explanation, what would their friends and family think they had done? 17. In 40 years, what will they be the most nostalgic about? 18. How would they describe their family?  19. If they could shop for free at one store, what would it be? 20. Do they have any pets? If so, what are they? 21. If they had to bury treasure, how would they hide it? 22. If they were given a one minute ad slot during the Super Bowl that they couldn’t sell, what would they fill it with? 23. What’s the most important object they own? 24. What event in their life would make a good movie? 25. If there was a day held in their honor, what would people have to do on that day? 26. If they could dedicate their life to solving one problem, what would it be? 27. What makes a person beautiful to them? 28. If they turned into their crush/significant other for a day, what would they do? 29. What do they do/act like when they’re angry? 30. What would be their perfect day? 31. How would they conquer the Earth? 32. If they could swim in any liquid what would it be and why? 33. Where do they find meaning in their life? 34. What percentage of their life have they felt truly alive? 35. What job were they born to do? 36. Do they believe things happen for a reason? 37. What do they think is a conspiracy? 38. Do they believe in magic? 39. Do they believe in the afterlife? How do they picture it? 40. What’s a superstition they believe in? 41. What is the dumbest way they’ve ever been injured? 42. Do they drink/smoke/do drugs?  43. What’s the best and worst purchase they’ve ever made? 44. Can they cook? What’s their favourite dish to make? 45. Do they mind conflict?  46. What is something silly they’ve been tricked into believing? 47. If they could start a charity what would it be for? 48. If they were a cryptid (bigfoot, mothman, ect.) what would they be? 49. What’s their ideal temperature and weather? 50. What topic could they give a 20 minute presentation on with no preparation? 

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Keeping a Writers Journal

Now be honest with me, how many beautiful notebooks do you own? How many of them are empty right now? Yes, I know, you’re waiting for the perfect opportunity to use them. The perfect story. The time you won’t cross anything out. The time you won’t change a thing. Well that time won’t come and you’re wasting them. *Bops you on the head with a pretty notebook* 

The purpose of a writers journal is not to create artwork worthy of a museum, but to help your ideas flow. Sometimes when writing things down, you can even bounce ideas off yourself! It’s amazing! So stop holding back and give it a go. 

Here are my top tips on journaling: 

Don’t worry about keeping it neat (as long as you can read it, it’s good)

Use different notebooks for different things (Plotting, Research, World-building, History, Magic, Religion)

Use headings so topics are easy to find

3am inspo? Write it down! No don’t get your phone out, you want to go to sleep after this. You can develop it in the morning. 

Sketch If you’re struggling to visualise something in you WIP, sketch it even if you can’t draw. Remember, this is just for you.

Solving plot holes? Use an idea dump. This is where you just vomit every idea you have to solve it onto the page and then work your way through each option. 

Write ideas for made up names/words down. Stick every variation you’ve considered on the page and then you can try merging them or you can simply see which one looks best. Bonus points because you can look back on how you cam up with it. 

For editing journals specifically try:

Make lists of things you still want to ‘show’

Make lists of things you want to add

Write down problems you find when reading through, then you get to cross them off when you solve them. 

I hope this was helpful. Leave any additions below!!!

[If reposting to instagram, please credit @isabellestonebooks]

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Happy 2 year anniversary to this post!

Fun fact I discovered this song through this post and it quickly became one of my favorites, and I recently wrote one of my college essays about it! Thank you so much for introducing me to this amazing song 💜

Petition to make Dreamers by Oh Gravity the official writeblr anthem

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I want to write. I have ideas. I open document. I type four of the worst sentences ever created in the english language. I daydream the rest of the scene. I close document.

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Happy asexual awareness week to my fellow ace-spec writers!

and thank you to all the writers who include us in your work! feel free to reblog this post and talk about your own identity as an asexual or your asexual characters!

Just gonna tag some ace writers below, let me know if you'd like to be added or removed!

@silverink-and-ichor @tourneyofashvara @idriltelcontar @writings-of-a-narwhal @writer-ace

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Hey it’s ace week and you’re local ace has something to say! I’ve been out as ace for 3 years now and it’s still a big part of my identity that I’m proud of so here’s a lil something for those who need it!

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Happy asexual awareness week to my fellow ace-spec writers!

and thank you to all the writers who include us in your work! feel free to reblog this post and talk about your own identity as an asexual or your asexual characters!

Just gonna tag some ace writers below, let me know if you'd like to be added or removed!

@silverink-and-ichor @tourneyofashvara @idriltelcontar @writings-of-a-narwhal @writer-ace

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Honestly as a blind person I’m so tired of seeing fictional blind characters who don’t use white canes or other guides. “They have special powers so they know what’s around them” or “they’re confident enough to not need a guide” are common tropes, and I’m tired.

Are people scared that using a white cane will make their blind character seem weak? They can’t use a cane because they’re so special that they already know what’s around them, and other blind people who use guides are inferior because they’re not special?

I’m tired. Give your blind characters white canes and other guides. Let them hold onto their friends, let them have guide dogs. Don’t make white cane users feel ostracized for not being “strong enough” to go without.

Another thing that pisses me off is when a sighted character comes up with the fantasy equivalent of braille and teaches it to the blind character. Braille was invented by Louis Braille, a blind man, in 1824. The blind character should be the one coming up with it.

Tldr I’m blind and tired of sighted people lol

🔪 Sighted People MUST Reblog This 🔪

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why are we here? just to suffer? every day my brain is like "let's invent fake people" and then gives me Big Feelings about them

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I’m starting to take issue with the popular line “I have no problem with characters doing bad things, as long as they’re explicitly condemned in-universe.”

Is it so awful to have to make that judgment for yourself? To be shown a morally gray or even totally black situation that isn’t presented like a sermon? You are allowed to come to your own conclusions about a character. An author’s failure to condemn problematic characters doesn’t mean they condone them. It means they’re asking you to make up your own damn mind. 

Also, I feel like it’s much closer to real life to see casually bigoted characters going ignored than to have them ham-fistedly called out for it at every turn. Because sometimes people who are racist are good people in other ways. Sometimes people who are explicitly anti-racist are terrible people in other ways. Because people are whole people, and I’m sick of the idea that authors have to explicitly condemn or condone them. My job as a writer is to depict people. Not to judge them. To let the audience do that for their damn selves.

Real people aren’t fed to us on black or white platters. Why should fictional ones be? 

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Mmmmjupeter

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If only I wrote as often as I think about writing.