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Fugue by 糖糖Will

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Character Intro: Adranos (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- Matchstick ny Ares

Torch by Hermes

Age- 19 (immortal)

Location- Lemnos, Olympius

Personality- Much like his divine and symbolic element- he's brash, destructive, & impetuous with a selfish streak. He's also aimless- willing to do anything as long as it's exciting. He's casually dating.

He has the standard abilities of a god. As the god of fire his other powers/abilities include pyrokinesis (fire manipulation), fire mimicry, total heat/fire immunity, thermokinesis, limited magmokinesis, typhokinesis (smoke generation/manipulation), being able to briefly generate volcanic lightning, and limited geokinesis is able to create small volcanic landslides as well as volcanic rifts).

Adranos is the youngest child of Anchiale (Titaness of fire) & Hecaterus (Titan god of manual labor). He has an older sister Hestia (goddess of the hearth) and an older brother Ktesios (god of the household). Other members of his immediate family include his sister-in-law Soteria (goddess of safety) & his nieces Eleos (Ellie) (goddess of mercy, pity, & compassion) and Eulabeia (goddess of caution).

He lives in a beach house not too far from a volcano in the state of Lemnos. The beach house was a gift from his parents some time after his induction ceremony. Outside there's small circular stone pools filled with lava. Inside- the color scheme is carnelian, red orange, gold, & black with lots of wicker, rattan, sunstone, and obsidian furniture. There's also his personal steam room.

A notable physical feature is his long "flames" of hair, as described by his mother.

Adranos has an animal companion- a dragon named Sunflame. He primarily has bright shimmering red orange scales (with cream gold belly scales), reddish orange horns, claws, & crests with red orange wings that has cream colored wing membranes. The rider and dragon's energies are in complete harmony. Sunflame is Adranos' primary mode of transportation. Adranos with the help of his official mentor Draco (god of dragons) designed & crafted his dragon saddle.

He'll usually start off his day with a swim in his private hot spring before flying around on Sunflame. Adranos knows all sorts of aerial pyro tricks. He's even ridden him bareback- with no saddle!

He's not much of a cook so he'll stop at a nearby Bread Box for breakfast, getting two or three spicy breakfast burritos (with extra sriracha). He likes the meat burnt to a crisp. He also likes a giant bowl of Golly Grains cinnamon crunch cereal.

Adranos is fluent in Latin.

Out of his parents, he's definitely a lot closer to his mom Anchiale. They both have similar temperaments (though she's more able to reign in her temper) and they've even taking a glassblowing class in Crete. They also love riding their dragons together. Adranos loves his mom's homecooking, especially her hearty lamb stew where she adds extra ghost peppers & jalapeños for him.

A go-to drink for him is iced tea. He also likes beer, cola, OmegaDash energy drinks, bloody marys, mango spice slushies, hot chocolate, fireball shots, and olympian sized cinnamon milkshakes from The Frozen Spoon.

With his father, Adranos has never felt close with him compared to his older brother. He feels as though he doesn't come close to his father's standards. Since his induction ceremony, Adranos & Hecaterus have been trying to spend more time together. When he visits his parents at their home in Corinth, Adranos will help out on his dad's tobacco field.

Some of his favorite treats include cajun pretzels, street gyro hot dogs (topped with jalapeños and extra sriracha tzatziki sauce), & red hot licorice twists.

One of his major vices in smoking cigarettes. Adranos can easily go through two packs a day! He thinks that people who smoke through use of vape pens are "pretentious pussies."

He loves taking steaming hot showers!

Adranos won't ever publicly admit this, but he loves visiting his big sister Hestia. He looks forward to her chicken and waffles (drizzled with spicy maple syrup) and spicy chicken noodle soup, as an after dinner snack. From her, he learned how to make baklava.

His favorite frozen treat is cherry sorbet! He gets an olympian sized cup.

A go-to thing he likes getting from The Bread Box is the spicy chicken sandwich- with extra sriracha mayo & pepper jack cheese.

Adranos is constantly butting heads with his older brother Ktesios. It's well known that they don't get along. Adranos thinks that he's a judgemental prick who takes things too seriously while Ktesios views him as a reckless hothead who doesn't care about anything but himself. When Adranos travels to New Olympus they keep a "friendly" distance. He likes Soteria, her pot roast, and the fact that she's more forgiving than Ktesios. Adranos doesn't mind hanging out with his nieces- geniunely getting a laugh at trying to scare Eulabeia. He's constantly trying to get her to come out of her shell more.

His all time favorite dessert is his mom's red velvet cake.

In the pantheon Adranos is friends with Ares (god of war), Dionysus (god of wine), Zelus (god of envy, jealousy, & zeal), Himeros (god of impetuous love), Chrysos (god of gold & riches), Notus (god of the south wind), Eupraxia (goddess of well-being & success), Hermes, and Horme (god of energy). He also admires Phlegethon (Titan god of fire).

A cool moment for him was when he met Hephaestus (god of the forge). Hephaestus helped him construct a Celestial Bronze surfboard for lava surfing! He wished that he was able to post pictures of this experience on his Fatestagram, but Adranos respected Hephaestsu' confidentiality agreement.

Adranos also had crushes on Hybris (goddess of insolence, hubris, & reckless pride), Philotes (goddess of sex, friendship, & affection), and Enyo (goddess of war, destruction, bloodlust, & devastation).

When he's not visiting his family in New Olympus, Adranos is hanging out with his friends- whether it's going to a club with Zelus and Chrysos, drag racing with Dionysus, drinking with Ares, or surfing with Notus.

Once as a dare, he and Eupraxia stripped naked- running through Acropolis Square at two in the morning.

As for his dating life, he likes keeping things casual. Adranos had a brief fling with Euphrosyne (grace of joy) and has also hooked up with an anthousai during a party on Chrysos' yacht. After following & sending a friend request on Fatestagram, Adranos has been sending flirtatious messages back and forth with Aetna (goddess of volcanoes). His latest online like is a photo of her wearing a clingy one piece bathing suit with sexy cutouts on a beach in Naxos. He even checks out her show Kólasi! sometimes.

He's currently taking lessons on playing the electric guitar.

In his free time Adranos enjoys free falling sky diving, sand surfing, sunbathing, basketball, football (soccer), skateboarding, cliff jumping, motorbiking, playing video games, and fire dueling.

His all time favorite meal is from Olympic Chef- an order of olympian sized cajun fries, an inferno burger, & a 10 piece cajun chicken tenders (with buffalo dipping sauce).

“Fire is never a gentle master.”

#my oc #oc character #my character #my oc character #oc intro #character intro #oc introduction #character introduction #modern greek gods #modern greek mythology #greek myth retellings #greek gods #greek mythology #greek pantheon

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Citrus

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Starry

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from ms_unique_styles

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Describing Black Hair in Fantasy (Locs, Braided Styles, etc)

Image: Describing Black Hair in Fantasy, Braided Styles

How do you describe afro hairstyles in a world where the words don’t exist? 

My advice for describing afro hairstyles effectively in fantasy is to:

Describe the style

Use words from the term in the description

Have someone read it; do they know what you’re describing?

Describe the style.

What does this hairstyle look like, exactly? What is a braid? What are locs? How do you braid, or how do you form this particular type of braid? 

Look up existing descriptions of the term, and use language from the definition. Combine, reword and trim as necessary. There’s no need to be wordy. A well-constructed sentence or two should serve its purpose.

Great sources are everything from hair glossaries (especially those found on Black hair websites) natural hair vlogs, and even the thesaurus.

Here are some word associations to play with:

General Textures & Looks

Tight

Loose

Thick

Thin

Dense

Light

Heavy

Springy

Silky

Sheen

Porous 

Afro Texture and Curls

Afro / Fro

Cloudy

Coils

Corkscrews

Crimped

Curly

Natural 

Poufy

Ringlets

Spirals

Texturized

Wavy 

Braids

Crossed

Folded

Interlaced

Layered

Looped

Plaits/Plaited

Rolled

Woven

These words can help be more specific with the look of their hair/hairstyle. Tight, tiny braids. Cloudy puffs of hair in twin pigtails.

Use words from the term itself in the description.  

Readers should get an “aha” moment when you do this. Twisted hair probably mean twists. Bantu knots resemble knots. 

Cornrows: 

Cornrows get their name from rows of corn with connections to African chattel slavery. Say you have a character with this style, but those historical connotations don’t exist in this world , or corn isn’t something your character would know about. There are still ways to make the connection.

Example: “She wore her hair in neat rows of braids along her scalp.” 

The key word here is rows.

Assuming you can use a part of a word that does exist in your timeline, use it for the strongest connection to its real world counterpart. See the next example:

Locs (dreadlocks)

Another Black hairstyle with history to its name, it may not make sense to use the term in your setting (and also, due to that history, “locs” is preferred term) However, you likely could still slip the word “lock or locked” into your description to clarify for readers what you’re getting at.

Example: “His skin was the same medium brown as her own and that of her people, but his hair was thick and coarse and pulled into the rough locks that looked like braids but weren’t, like the people to the south whose skin was darker.”

-By Shira Glassman, A Harvest of Ripe Figs, Mangoverse Book 3

What’s particularly great about this description is: 

The use of locks or locked hair to make the connection to locs.

Connecting the hairstyle to a certain people. It isn’t just a style anyone can wear, but it has regional roots and is worn by a particular group.

Adding other indications of race such as brown skin, and the nod to him coming from a place where the people have dark skin.

Have someone read it

Have more than one person read your description. It would be great if at least one of those people is Black (and/or familiar with the style). Does the reader know what you’re trying to describe? Are you being concise, or over explaining it to the point of confusion? If your readers can name the style or picture it relatively quickly, then you’ve got a winner. 

More reading:

Words to Describe Hair 

Describing Bantu Knots (Fantasy Setting)

Fantasy World and Non-Western Clothes

~Mod Colette

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Art by Alena Aenami

Music :  ON TOP

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How to write a kiss

Rebloggable version, as requested by davrosbro. :)

Oooh!  Yes!  I love kisses.  Kisses are where it all starts ;).

Okay, first, remember that a kiss is much, much more than just lips.  It is lips, but also tongues, teeth, eyes, faces, hands, noses, bodies, heartbeats,  breath, voice- and most importantly, a kiss is emotions.  A kiss without emotion is just wet mushy lips stuck together.  Ew.  Gross.  The most important part of a kiss isn’t the how, but the who- because of the emotions between the two people.

Okay so:

lips- Lips can slide, glide over each other smoothly, or they can be chapped and rough and dry and get stuck on each other.  They can match, top-to-top and bottom-to-bottom, or they can overlap, with one person’s top or bottom lip captured between the other person’s lips (yummy).  If there is lipstick or chapstick there is lipstick or chapstick flavor, otherwise, lips don’t have a taste (can you taste yours?).  Lips also can smack- the sound of two of them coming together or pulling apart, because they’re wet and warm and soft. 

tongue- Tongues are always wet, and always warm.  They’re very versatile.  They can trace over lips, teeth, or another tongue.  They can be smooth and graceful or teasing and flicking.  When tongues are involved, there is drool.  It’s only sexy when you like the person you’re kissing, or else it’s kinda gross. :P

teeth- teeth can clack together awkwardly, or teeth can bite down sensually.  A person biting their own lip is cute, a person biting another’s lips is sexy.  A person biting gently is sensual, a person biting roughly is sexual. 

eyes- Eyes can be wide open with surprise, half-lidded with desire, fully closed with pleasure.  Eyes can gaze lovingly, lustfully, wistfully, hungrily, seductively- it all depends upon the emotions of your characters.  Have them do whatever you like, but don’t leave them out- give them at least a mention!

faces- Faces are what the lips are attached to.  Noses bump, cheeks flush, ears turn red, foreheads either wrinkle or relax.  Kisses can leave lips, quite easily, and become kisses on chins, cheeks, noses, foreheads, ears, necks, throats.  Kisses on noses or foreheads are cute and adorable, kisses on cheeks are sweet, kisses on chins, ears, and throats are very sexual.  And a kiss on the lips can be all of those! <3

hands- Hands are super-important.  In order to describe a kiss, usually you want to also describe the hands.  Where are they?  Does one character have their hand behind the other’s head or back, holding them close?  Are they on someone’s shoulders pulling them near, or pushing them away?  Fingers brushing someone’s cheek or palms grabbing someone’s ass convey two very different kinds of situations, even if the kiss itself is exactly the same.

noses- Noses are annoying.  They easily get in the way, especially for first kisses!  People have to tilt their head to one side or the other, and if they don’t, noses bump.  I’d only mention noses if a kiss is supposed to be awkward or uncertain or nervous.

bodies- bodies are either close together, or far away.  Someone can be surrounded comfortingly by someone’s arms, or terrifyingly trapped by them.  Bodies are warm or hot, they are calm or nervous, relaxed or tense.  Body language says a lot.  Is your character pulling away, or moving closer?

heartbeat- Hearts can beat fast or slow, and that’s about all they can do- but there are lots of reasons why they do!  A heart can beat fast with fear or excitement or nervousness; a heart can pound with lust or race with terror or sing with joy.  Hearts can glow, cower, or shatter.  When you really want to drive the emotions of a character home, mention the heart.

breath- To me, the most consuming part of a kiss is the breath.  The air that someone else has just breathed going deep into your lungs is very intimate.  Lips and tongues don’t have a taste, but breath does.  Each person’s breath tastes different, smells different, and surrounds a person differently than anyone else’s breath.  Breath can be warm and sweet, breath can be hot and sexy, breath can be hot and frightening.  It is something that is very present and should not be left out.  A lot of writers leave breath out.  And it’s so important; it’s the most intimate part of a kiss.  Someone else is breathing into your lungs, and it’s either heaven or it’s hell.

voice- Voice conveys much, even without words.  A voice can groan, whimper, gasp, moan, catch, whine, scream, sigh.  Voice can convey emotion powerfully, and while some kisses are silent, usually they’re not. 

emotion-  Emotion is the most important- and the thing you try not to say.  You want to describe it, through all of the things above, so that it’s perfectly clear what your characters are feeling, without you ever using the “feelings words”.  If they’re in love, their bodies will lean close, their eyes will smile, their voices will giggle softly.  If they’re nervous, their palms will sweat, their noses will bump, their voices will shudder.  If they’re afraid, their muscles will be tense, their faces will grimace, their lips will not open.  Emotion is the color that you keep inside your mind as you write; it’s the base line that drives the description behind everything else you say.

Wow, that was a lot!  Gosh I hope it wasn’t too much!  Keep in mind not every kiss has all these things- this is just a list of things to consider when writing a kiss, and based on how long of a kiss you want to make.  Keep in mind that typing “they kissed for a long time”…that’s six words, it takes half a second to read, so that’s a short kiss!  If you want a long kiss, you need long sentences that make the reader linger. 

So maybe to start off, pick three things on the list to describe in your first kiss.  Don’t try to do it all- that would be too much for even the most epic kiss.  Just pick what’s most important to this particular scene, to these particular characters, and describe those parts along with the lips, and you’ve got yourself an awesome, emotional kiss. <3

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A Writing Cheat Sheet: for linking actions with emotions. 

As always, click for HD.

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Color Synonyms

—– source: http://ingridsundberg.com/

—– additional synonyms added by me : @damselwrites​

This is a living document and will be updated whenever I think of new words.

Keep reading

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types of people - weather

tag yourself! 

sunny - patterned tops, the sound of waves on a beach, ice tea, losing your sunglasses, coconut sunscreen

cloudy - nice handwriting, cappuccinos, calm music as you fall asleep, homemade soup, whispering to a friend

snowy - b&w, dark mornings, running your hands through your hair, expensive hand cream, playful banter

windy - always busy, white linen shirts, studying in coffee shops, waking up to see the sunrise, proving someone wrong

rainy - night owl, reads for comfort, old architecture, eternally stressed, woolly sweaters, coffee with a biscotti 

[abookishdreamer]

types of girls: winter edition ♡

soft snowfall: childlike at heart, she obtains comfort from the familiar. her idea of happiness is fueled by the simple surrounding of those whom she adores, and discussing all of their most whimsical dreams and beautiful memories. pink cheeks, longtime traditions, timeless gestures of love, and remember-when's.

sparkling ember: her palms are warmed by the flames which dance in the fireplace, but what they really long for is the holding of another beings' hands. she tries always to bring light to others' sorrows, and to squeeze all that she can out of this short life. an extrovert with a romantic heart, and one who longs to manifest her dreams into plans. forget-me-nots, cabin holidays, wild ideas, and contagious laughter.

frozen pond: she knows not the extent of how vibrantly she glistens, for her mind has usually drifted to some place far down below the surface. a curious spirit with a cautious heart. easily sees the reflection of herself within others; is empathetic by nature. well thought-out replies, tightly crossed fingers, morning and evening tea, and nights spent lost in contemplation.

ancient pine: her soul brims with the untouchable wisdom of a thousand trees. she has a calm demeanor, but keeps a constantly-brewing storm of thoughts within. observant, grounded, and the first to offer a silent hand to those who need it most. handwritten notes sent in the mail, guided meditations, a strong sense of memory, and the slow counting of each breath.

[abookishdreamer]

How to write better descriptions

1. Avoid weak words

Compare these:

He ate the sandwich

She walked towards the lake.

to these: 

He devoured the sandwich 

She strolled towards the lake. 

Which sentences tells you more? The latter ones. Why? Because devoured and strolled are stronger words than ate and walked. They’re more specific, so they give you more information. To get across the same information with ate and walked, you’d have to add more words: ‘she walked slowly,’ ‘he ate quickly.’

Obviously this isn’t saying you can only ever use strong words–that would likely quickly devolve into purple prose–but If your descriptions only ever include general terms: ‘it smelled good’ ‘he walked over to greet her’ etc. you’re making it harder for your reader to get an accurate picture of whatever is happening in your scene. 

So how do you spot a weak word? The biggest problem with (and easiest way to spot) a weak word is that it needs support from other words to really get its meaning across. If you find yourself adding adverbs and adjectives to a term, question whether or not there’s a more concise way to get your point across instead. 

2. Be Specific Where Details Are Important

This isn’t to say you should describe everything in every scene in perfect detail, but being specific matters. 

Which is more engaging? 

He devoured the sandwich 

The book smelled magical.

or

He devoured the sandwich, stopping only to lick up the melted cheese that seeped through his fingers and ran down his palm. 

The book smelled like a sunlit afternoon. 

Again, the latter ones. They take you into the scene. They evoke the senses. It’s the difference between telling and showing. Devoured is a strong verb, but it doesn’t give us a clear image of what is happening. Showing the character licking away the cheese gives the reader a sense of the desperation and hunger of the action. Evoking a sunlit afternoon is evoking your reader’s memories of their own sunny afternoons.These examples are statements with evidence. They provide details. 

You want to invite your reader into the scene, not give them a summary of the events.

Additionally, specifics make the world feel real. They convince readers that the world actually exists. They keep the story in your readers’ minds once they’ve finished reading. 

This being said, don’t pull a GRRM and describe every meal your characters eat. Some things just aren’t that important. There are MANY occasions when it’s okay to tell instead of show. 

3. Remember the point of view.

Who is giving the description? 

If you’re writing in 1st person or 3rd person limited, remember how your character feels about what you’re describing. If you’re describing a strawberry field, a person who was raised on a strawberry farm is going to see it differently than someone who is deathly allergic to strawberries, who is going to see it differently from a Beatles fanatic. 

Maybe the Beatles fanatic is deathly allergic to strawberries and this field brings up a whole bucketful of conflicting emotions.

Which is all to say: 

Good descriptions reveal character as well as scene. 

If this description is coming from a character’s point of view: what is that point of view? What is this scene making your character feel? Don’t let your narrator slip away from the page. 

This connects to my last point. 

4. Remember why you’re including it. 

Novel writing is persuasive writing. It’s an exercise in persuading your reader that your story is true, that your characters are real people. It’s an exercise in persuading your readers to feel what you want them to feel. 

(There’s a well-known quote about this somewhere, but I can’t remember it exactly.)

Every description must add to the story. It should be doing something: working for some larger goal, advancing the plot, revealing character. 

Maybe you’re describing a house because you want your reader to see why your character doesn’t want to move.  

Maybe you’re describing this lovely-smelling book because you want the reader to know that it’s important to the character. That her favorite memories are of reading it in the attic of her grandmother’s house. 

When you’re writing out a description, identify its purpose and make sure it fulfils it. 

It’s okay if at first you don’t know how the house makes the character feel, or if she’s running or strolling towards the lake, or why the book is so important. Sometimes you just know it’s there. That something happened. Usually things become clearer as you write further and get to know the story and characters yourself. 

Once you do know what you’re trying to say with your story, make sure you say it with every chapter, every description, and every word. 

[abookishdreamer]

Mermay 2020 by Devin Elle Kurtz

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By Astor Alexander

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Art by Yintion J

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