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Small note / Important reminder.

Sooo, last post generated a few asks of similar stuff / prompts. Somehow. It kind of feels surreal tbh.

Anyhow, I want to say that, while I'm flattered to get asks to begin with, please be patient with me because I am very much not having a great time bcs of the hehe hoho mental illnesses (and not to mention my struggle to write for others, not myself, which I definitely need to work on) and general life stuff — Hence the “half hiatus” on my profile.

I'll get to the asks when I have the energy / time. Whenever that is.

Sorry! Thank you all for the prompts tho!!!

#revi's rambling

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Hello there! I know it's a bit cliché, but can you write some dialogue prompts about a girl thanking a guy because he gave her his jacket the last time they saw each other? Pretty please 🥺 Thank you 💗

I FORGOT I HAD ASKS OPEN HOLY SHIT JABSKAJSJ

Apologies for the delay, I have been having a kind of rough couple months which have affected my writing. Probably will edit/add onto this later or something, if I find the energy (Also this is literally the first time I get a request so I'm sorry if it is bad or formatted weird ^^").

“Hey! Hey you! God, I finally found you! I have been looking everywhere for you.” Once the momentary adrenaline wears off, so does most of her bravado. Faltering, she stutters, “I, uh, wanted to thank you. About the other day. I- It was really nice of you.”

“Oh, hi. Perfect timing; Here's your jacket. I washed it, if that's okay?” She offers the item, clean and scented like lavender. “Thank you, by the way.”

“I mean it. I am... Not the greatest at showing gratitude. Thank you.”

“Good news bad news somewhat decent news other relevant news.”

“Good news, I got you chocolate as a thank you for the other day. Bad news, some got on your jacket. Somewhat decent news, I got it off! Other relevant news — Your jacket is now pink. Don't ask.”

“The other day was lovely, thank you. Shame you lost your jacket though.”

“...Aren't you wearing it right now?”

“Yes. But I am keeping it. Should've thought it through, fucko.”

“CATCH!” She suddenly throws the jacket from where she stands, with enough force to hit him square in the face. “THANKYOUFORTHEOTHERDAYBYE” She yells manically, then runs away.

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr #writing #ask request

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“Go on,” They sneer with a wide smirk. “I’ve seen how fast you can run.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr

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“I have not avoided the police this long just to be caught by some loser's lucky streak.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr

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“That's my girlfriend.”

“Oh, me too.”

. . .

“I mean, I am also gay.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr

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“Cooongratulations! You've somehow managed to dig past rock bottom! Wow, that's impressive!”

“... Are you mocking me?”

“Take a guess.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr

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“Are you... Dissapointed?”

“Being dissapointed would mean I had any expectations of you to begin with.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr

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“You- you are not a demon! You are a monster!”

“... Took you long enough to notice.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr #this is based on a project of mine but shhh.

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Negative Traits for Your Characters

Talks over others/interrupts

Always has to one-up others

Can’t take criticism

Always plays the victim

Selfish

Pathological liar

Makes everything about them

Bad at sharing

Guilt trips others

Makes special events about themselves

Their way or no way at all

Makes up excuses for everything

Has a reason why nothing is ever their fault

Not a team player

Does jobs halfway

Makes everything a joke

Can’t take a joke

Is overly literal

Can’t let others enjoy anything

Stingy with money

#mmmm informative

[revierie]

ᴛɪᴘꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ [ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ]

don't let your skill in writing deter you. publishers look for the storyline, not always excellent writing. many of the greatest books came from mediocre writers—and also excellent and terrible ones.

keep writing even when it sucks. you don't know how to write this battle scene yet? skip ahead. write [battle scene here] and continue. in the end, you'll still have a book—and you can fill in the blanks later.

find your motivation. whether it's constantly updating That One Friend or posting your progress, motivation is key.

write everything down. everything. you had the perfect plot appear to you in a dream? scribble down everything you can remember as so as you can. I like to keep cue cards on my nightstand just in case.

play with words. titles, sentences, whatever. a lot of it will probably change either way, so this is the perfect opportunity to try out a new turn of phrase—or move along on one you're not quite sure clicks yet.

explain why, don't tell me. if something is the most beautiful thing a character's ever laid eyes on, describe it—don't just say "it's beautiful".

ask for critique. you will always be partial to your writing. getting others to read it will almost always provide feedback to help you write even better.

stick to the book—until they snap. write a character who is disciplined, courteous, and kind. make every interaction to reinforce the reader's view as such. but when they're left alone, when their closest friend betrays them, when the world falls to their feet...make them finally break.

magic. has. limits. there is no "infinite well" for everyone to draw from, nor "infinite spells" that have been discovered. magic has a price. magic has a limit. it takes a toll on the user—otherwise why can't they simply snap their fingers and make everything go their way?

read, read, read. reading is the source of inspiration.

first drafts suck. and that's putting it gently. ignoring all the typos, unfinished sentences, and blatant breaking of each and every grammar rules, there's still a lot of terrible. the point of drafts is to progress and make it better: it's the sketch beneath an oil painting. it's okay to say it's not great—but that won't mean the ideas and inspiration are not there. first drafts suck, and that's how you get better.

write every day. get into the habit—one sentence more, or one hundred pages, both will train you to improve.

more is the key to improvement. more writing, more reading, more feedback, and you can only get better. writing is a skill, not a talent, and it's something that grows with you.

follow the rules but also scrap them completely. as barbossa wisely says in PotC, "the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules". none of this is by the book, as ironic as that may be.

write for yourself. I cannot stress this enough. if what you do is not something you enjoy, it will only get harder. push yourself, but know your limits. know when you need to take a break, and when you need to try again. write for yourself, and you will put out your best work.

#mmmm informative

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“Did the power go out?”

“... No, I decided that we should return to the 1700's and live by candle light.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr

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“SLAAAY,” A says, trying but failing to snap their fingers. They nudge B slightly, and B sighs.

B snaps their fingers.

“SLAAAYYYY, QUEEN.” A repeats.

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr #i did this. #i found it hilarious #laugh #also yes I can't snap

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Tips For "Show, Don't Tell."

Honestly, show don't tell is something I feel even I struggle with and I'm pretty sure anyone who writes faces it. Finding a balance is hard. When to show and when to tell can become an inherent feeling though. However, there are some things I've learnt and I hope they help you!

❥︎Emphasise Sensory Detailing: Not only does packing a scene with sensory details help readers imagine the setting, it also gives your characters a distinct physical world to interact with. Rather than simply saying that a character is in New York, describe the light reflecting off the Hudson River, or the towering colossus of the Statue of Liberty.

❥︎Describe body language and avoid emotional explanation when showing.

❥︎Like I said, focus on describing senses and lean more on the usage of imagery too, it'll help if you understand that literary device. I have a post on how to use imagery in writing which helps a lot when showing and not telling. Pick adjectives that you use to describe and replace them with sensory descriptions. Eg:

+ He was scared when he saw the lion at the exit.

+ His heart raced when he saw the lion looming at the end of his escape route.

See what I did here?

Did you feel the difference?

❥︎ learn from examples of 'Show, Don't tell' by reading. The most basic.

❥︎ Use of Dialogue: can also teach readers about characters through word choice, tone, and POV. For instance:

The tray flipped and drenched her in wine. She shrieked and jumped out of her seat, glaring at the waiter.

And

The tray flipped and drenched her in wine but all she did was sigh and smile in understanding.

The scene is the same but the character's approach was different in each case. The former seems kind while the latter seems to be a temperamental character.

❥︎Make your character do something out of ordinary, something that breaks the routine or would make a heavier impact. For eg:

If a character speaks in long-winded, erudite sentences, readers might gather that they are pompous and well-educated. If this same character suddenly begins speaking in terse, short bursts later in the novel, readers might note that something in that character has shifted.

If they're described as someone who never cooks say and then at some time they cook for the live interest, it'll pique the reader’s Interest because it was uncharacteristic of them to do.

❥︎Having a diverse vocabulary, imagination and the ability to use literary devices like metaphors will greatly aid in Show don't tell.

❥︎And lastly, It's fine if you don't get it right the first time because that's how writing works. The more you read, attempt and err, the more you learn. But having an idea of what to do will go a great way in guiding and saving time.

Hope it helps! Follow for more, like and share! <3

#mmmm informative

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“You know, if looks could kill, you would be a very shitty killer.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr #the three morons of the round table

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“I don't think this is a good idea.”

“Who said this was a good idea?”

“Uh? Then what kind of idea this is?”

“The let's see how many people die before the cops show up kind of idea.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr

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Juniper’s Massive World-Building Resource List

(Shamelessly cribbed from a dozen different sources)

1. The Checklists

These are the kinds of things that present you with a list of questions about your world, that you then answer as creatively as you want to. I find myself continually having to go back and add to them, because goodness sometimes I just want to write and not think about stuff that isn’t directly relevant to the plot…until it is. And then suddenly I have to think about the ramifications of that.

CRV’s Worldbuilding Checklists (originally from btot.de) - obviously more fantasy-focused Patricia Wrede’s Worldbuilding Lists - a good balance between fantasy and other genres

2. The Masterlist

This link has nearly everything you can think of. It’s not the be-all-end-all, because nothing is, but it’s damn good.

r/Worldbuilding’s Resources List

3. The Visuals

Yes, there’s the ever-present AI-generated images, things such as Artbreeder or Wombo Dream, but sometimes you need something more concrete. Like maps. Or people.

Also, pay artists to make beautiful things whenever you can. AI art is designed to remove the actual humanity from the creative process, and while it’s fine for face claims or inspiration, I would never ever use it as, say, my book cover.

Alsoalso, learn a little something about graphic design. Please. Color theory. Rule of thirds. I beg of you.

Things I have used for maps:

Inkarnate - Browser-based, but almost entirely fantasy-focused

Wonderdraft - Large-scale mapping for countries/continents/worlds

Dungeondraft - Smaller scale mapping that shines when doing smaller areas, especially interiors (both ‘drafts are from the same creator, and are desktop only) There is not, as of yet, a Towndraft, although the community is ravenous for it!

I highly recommend the art packs from Cartography Assets, although if you’re going to use them in a commercially released work, do be a good human and pay the artists for their work! If you want to do sci-fi or modern maps, this is where to get your assets!

Things I have used for people:

HeroForge - A 3D tabletop miniature creator with a vibrant modder community. The free version lets you create as many figures as you want, but their Pro deal lets you organize them into folders, which I absolutely love. It also lets you save specific colors/materials to use across multiple figures, which saves a lot of time when creating folks with a shared uniform. You can even import people/outfits/poses from other figures! I’m told that facial feature modification, clothing patterns, and kitbashing are coming this year! (I’m a little addicted, as you might’ve noticed.) Best on desktop, but you can get a quick “sketch” done on mobile.

Picrew - A truly massive collection of portrait creators. The Discord associated with it is really helpful, in that you can frequently get links to creators that meet your specific requirements, like ‘must have elf ears and POC skin tones’ or ‘must have heterochromia and vitiligo’. This site got me through the roughest parts of 2020. Great for mobile.

Meiker.io - Similar in scope to Picrew, Meiker has a few treasures, including a lot from the now mostly defunct DollDivine, which relied entirely on Flash. There are a few that I return to again and again, but not many. Best on desktop and very easy to create your own creators.

Neka.cc - A Chinese-based site with a lot of similarities to Picrew, although a lot less diversity, both in skin tones and bodies. Great for mobile.

Storior gets an honorable mention because it has a ton of potential, with a lot more options in some respects, but precious few in others. Best on desktop. Can you tell I really love these things?!

4. The Organizers

It helps to have somewhere to store all this information, right? Preferably in an easily accessed database? Perhaps with links or prompts?

These are the ones I’ve used:

World Anvil - Browser-based, incredibly detailed and complex, even for the free version. I found it to be too complicated to figure out, but maybe it’ll be your cuppa!

Campfire - Browser-based, mostly focused on writers, and has a suite of options that you can opt into or out of. This also wasn’t as useful to me, since there’s nowhere to put an outline!

Kanka.io - Browser-based, and just this perfect sweet spot between bare bones and overloaded. There are specific modules you can enable or disable, like in-universe calendars, dice rollers, character journals, etc. It’s my preferred option for organizing my world-building, outside of things like Google Docs.

I also understand a lot of writers like using Scrivener for their work, but as I have Linux, I don’t have any experience with it.

5. The Rest

So, a lot of world-building comes down to how well you know our world. I love world-building because it means I get to use all my education and interests together to create something that feels realistic to my readers and players. This is a time when ADHD is absolutely useful! Chase those squirrels! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ended up reading an article on, say, rivers, only to end up with an idea for how leylines function in my world!

So here are my top 5 recommendations for figuring out how our world works:

Sociology! - If you want to know how different cultures interact, why certain customs come about, or just how a population reaches a decision, learn about sociology. It’s probably my favorite subject, and most useful to very culture-focused world-builders.

Geology! - If you want to know how your world fits together, what it’s made of, where things like mineral or gem deposits might be or how they might form… in addition to how rivers, lakes, and “strange” geographical features form, geology’s a great place to start.

History! - Okay, maybe this one is cheating, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read about something in history and thought “what if it went this way instead?” BAM, there’s a premise for you. (I have an entire novel idea built around that, told mostly through a writer interviewing a famous figure in this alt-history for their biography. After seeing the popularity of Dracula Daily, I almost want to release it like that…)

Ecology! - Oh man, if you want to figure out the botany and zoology of your world, ecology is a great place to start. It builds very nicely off of geology, and covers such a broad range of topics and how each of these pieces interact with one another - like how hydrology affects meteorology affects climate affects plant distribution affects animal distribution… which of course then affects culture!

I’m going to be sacrilegious in the eyes of some of my fellow world-builders here and NOT put linguistics - not because it’s not useful, just because it’s not a field I know much about. Instead, I’d suggest looking at world myths and religions. Yeah, it’s technically part of sociology, but if you’re developing a world from scratch, the creation stories that the sentient species tell themselves can inform a lot of their culture.

For instance, the world that Starcrossed, Amongst the Goblins & the Fishes, and The Silver Hand are all set in is an alternate Earth where magic never left the land. The creation myths in this world are much more centered around humanoids living in harmony with nature, rather than dominating it. In fact, some of the human societies have a specific taboo against desecrating the earth that is taken to such an extreme that other species, like elves and dwarves, occupy that niche instead, acting as stewards of the forest and mountain because they don’t have that same taboo. Part of these myths explain the existence of ley lines, and why they wither and die out (because of excessive logging, destructive farming/mining, or large-scale slaughter of creatures). Will this ever come up in Starcrossed? I highly doubt it. But it figures into the other two VERY prominently.

Phew! That was quite a tangent. Anyway - did I get any of your favorites? Do you have something you’d like to add? Should I make this all a separate page so it’s easy to access and update it regularly? Tell me things! Ask me things! I am an open book and love talking about world-building! Tell me where you’re stuck and maybe we can figure out a way forward together! (Also hmu on Discord, I am so mediocre at Tumblr.)

#mmmm informative

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“... Also, by the way, what a lame name you have. Your parents should be ashamed.”

“I got named by the gods themselves.”

“Then the gods are shit at naming, what the fuck.”

#writing ideas #dialogue prompts #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #writeblr