snapdragoncrown

[snapdragoncrown]

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Carrd

MOONBOW TAGLIST (ask to be +/-)

@cryptid-s-wips @chayscribbles @stardustspiral @vivian-is-writing @leadhelmetcosmonaut @apocalypsewriters @stormharbors @magnoliaash @littleredhatwriting @the-orangeauthor @emelkae @sylhorn @faelanvance @strangerays @josephinegerardywriter @ana-writes-stuff @author-a-holmes @afoolandathief @whispersintheparchment @hyba @koiwrites @splashinkling @bookish-galaxy @sylvar-writes-fantasy @mschvs @dru-reads-writeblr @kittensartswritings @asher-writes @zoya-writes @ashen-crest @antique-symbolism @jasperygrace @klywrites @dontcrywrite @pepsi-writes-words @world-of-fire-and-flight @manka437 @creamypudding

[snapdragoncrown]

[ID: a book cover. in the center is a red lute with gold wisps coming out of the hole. the lute is surrounded by blue vines and blue flowers with orange centers.  the title on top of the lute reads “The Stray Spirit.” the text underneath reads “Lutesong Book One” and “R.K. Ashwick.” the second image shows both the front and back. there are more blue flowers and gold wisps on the back. end ID]

The Stray Spirit has a book cover!!

LOOK AT IT

AHHHHHHHHHH

!!!!!!!!!!!

IT’S SO PRETTY IM GONNA EXPLODE

IT’S LIKE IT’S A REAL BOOK OR SOMETHING

ahem. pulling myself together here.

I’m hoping to release this thing in the fall! as always, if you want to be the first to know about pre-order giveaways, ARCs, and release dates, the newsletter’s your best bet. the info will also hit Tumblr, of course, but a bit later.

[snapdragoncrown]

WRITING ASK GAME!

notebook ; how many notebooks do you have? do you write in them?

pen ; what's your favorite font to write in?

pencil ; where do you do most of your brainstorming?

paper ; where's your favorite place to sit down and write?

docs ; what's the longest story you have ever written (pages or word count)?

nano ; have you ever participated in nanowrimo?

computer ; what is your writing software of choice?

genre ; what's your favorite genre to write? is it the same your favorite genre to read?

tropes ; what's your favorite trope to write?

tw ; what's the darkest theme covered in one of your wips?

characters ; is there something you always incorporate into your characters? if so, what is it? (If N/A, then what is your favorite character trait?)

wip ; talk about one work that you've recently started/just started!

coffee ; what's your favorite beverage to drink while writing?

personal ; is there anything that you always try to add to your writing? like a message or moral? anything that you like to read, so you write it yourself?

playlist ; do you make playlists for your characters or wips?

[snapdragoncrown]

Hunting for Writeblrs, Again.

Just got done cleaning out my following list, and unfortunately a large chunk of the lovely writeblrs I was following haven't been active in a long time. So, I figured I'd take this opportunity to meet more folks in the writeblr community.

~ My favorite genres are fantasy and poetry, but I'm open to most genres, with exception to horror. I can't do horror.

~ I Am Avoiding blogs with a lot of negativity and politics.

~ You don't have to follow me for me to follow you. If I like your blog I'll follow on my own, so there's no pressure. ^^

That's it, those are my notes. If you're a writeblr, please interact and I'll check out your blog. If I like what I see, I'll follow.

[snapdragoncrown]

Hey guys, I've got a couple chapters out on BetaBooks so enjoy here

#beta reader #writing advice #wip #writeblr #wip stuff #wof #wip character #war of heirs

[snapdragoncrown]

“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.

[snapdragoncrown]

how to make a story file

As I am preparing for Camp NaNo*, I have been working on my story file. It occurred to me this might not be common or popular practice. “Story File” is a name I gave it and maybe some of y’all have a different name with the same contents. 

*There’s still time to apply to join my Camp NaNo cabin!

My Story File contains everything about my story that doesn’t go in the outline.

It’s broken up into major categories and specific templates. So without further ado, here is how I structure my Story File. 

Intro

Title

Logline

Synopsis

Genre

Estimated Total Length (word count)

Draft Length Goal (word count)

Character Bank

Main characters and brief, one-sentence descriptions with ages

Themes and Character Development

Central Question

The Yes/No question that is being asked through the whole story

Should have objective qualities, rather than subjective

i.e. “Will they fall in love?” (subjective) vs. “Will they leave their partners and become a couple?” (objective)

Thematic Questions

These are the internal conflict questions that reside in your character(s) and your story

ex. “Can there really be a successful government?”

ex. “Does grief excuse bad actions?”

Themes at a Glance

Words or phrases that relate to the themes of the story

ex. person vs. nature

ex. isolation

ex. grief

ex. first love

Motivation / Stasis State / Final State

for each main character, you should write a sentence or two pertaining to these three things

Motivation: What is the drive behind this character and their past, present, and future actions? What part of their background makes them the way that they are? What are they looking for? What do they want out of this/a situation?

Stasis State: What are they like before the inciting incident? What problems and questions do they have?

Final State: What has changed about them and their outlook? What questions have they resolved? What has happened to their internal conflict?

Relationships

I usually make a little web of the MCs and their relationship to one another. One for the stasis and one for final.

Stasis: How do these characters see each other? How do they act toward the other? (All before the inciting incident)

Final: How do these characters see each other now? How has their idea of one another shifted? 

Even if a character dies before the end, include the most recent relationship status in the Final web.

ex. this is how I organize it, using the Draw feature of Google Docs

Character Bank

This is just a very preliminary character bank. If you prefer a more in-depth one, check out my 6 Box Method.

Per (relevant/important) character:

Name

Nickname/preferred name

Age

Field/Occupation

Physical Description

Personality

Personal History

Education/Occupation History

Extra Notes:

Worldbuilding Bank

(Check out my worldbuilding posts on Categories Pt. 1 and 2 for better context)

Seasons and Climate

Languages

Other Cultural Pockets

Folklore and Legends

Fine Arts

Dress and Modesty

Classes

Jobs

Currency and Economics

Shopping

Agriculture and Livestock

Imports and Exports

Literature, Pop Culture, and Entertainment

Food and Water

Holidays and Festivals

Family and Parenting

Relationships

Housing

Religion and Beliefs

Government

Health and Medicine

Technology and Communication

Death

Transportation

Plants, Animals, and Human-environment Interaction

Education

Beauty Standards

Gender and Sexuality

—————————

I hope this helps y’all and supplements what you’re probably already doing. I know it’s helped me tons to have everything in a central place.

Best of luck!

[snapdragoncrown]

Naughty words in a godless world

Imagine you're writing a story that takes place in a world that has no God, or gods, or saints. What do you do with exclamations like "Oh gosh!" (derived from "Oh God") or "Jeez!" (derived from "Jesus!")? And - oh god - what do you do with curses and swear words? If your characters can't say "Oh my god", "hell no", or "damn" because there are no gods to damn anyone to hell... what are your options?

Here is a list for inspiration

In general, non-religious curse and swear words refer to local cultural taboos.

Many languages swear by referring to cleanliness: dirty, sweaty, sticky, smelly etc. This includes things you do on the toilet.

Some languages, like Dutch, use diseases as curses and insults. For example, someone nasty/bothersome might be called a "cancer sufferer" in Dutch. These swear words are combinations of (derivates of) typhus, cholera, and cancer.

Societal hierarchy and family trees, mainly the inferior positions like a bastard (seen as inferior in the family tree) or a derogatory word that refers to lower class people (seen as inferior in that society).

On the other hand, you could insult a highly valued member of the other person's family, like their mother, or of their society, like their Queen/Emperor.

Sexual taboos, often implying someone (or their mother) is more sexually active than society accepts of them.

Calling someone the word for someone's genitalia refers to the same taboo.

How do you apply this to your language?

You could use explicit/taboo words as ... :

... an intensifier: "It was a shit-hot day."

... a negative adjective: "This is a shitty job."

... an insulting noun: "This journey is shit."

Or try to be creative and combine different taboos for a multi-hit offense. My favorite one is the Spanish "I shit in your mother's milk", which combines insulting the other person's mother, the taboo of bodily functions, and the taboo of cleanliness.

During my research I came across this article, which contains a number of concrete examples from all over the world you can draw inspiration from.

And on a less offensive note, you could always make up your own equivalent of "Merlin's beard!", "Great Scott!", or "For Pete's sake!" (Pete, by the way, is a catholic reference: Pete is Saint Peter.)

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing tips here. New topics to write advice about are also always appreciated.

Tag list below the cut. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

And if you come up with creative curses, feel free to add them in the comments :)

@therska @writingwordsaddrawingpictures @the-words-we-never-said @writingwhithotchocolate @i-rove-rock-n-roll @maskedlady @no-time-like-write-now @timefire25 @black-lakritz-dragon @nzmayart @fandomrandomness-stuff @dangertoozmanykids101 @anaestheticdisaster @storytellingofravens @purpleshadows1989 @mathematicpony @i-don-t-know-words @notquitenovelist @coffeescribles @reffaces @livingthelovelylife @katsglabella @lokitty-is-my-spirit-animal @thefallenbibliophilequote @watchmewritedumb @sting-the-scribe @kais-writing-shit @dameschnee123 @curiosityonmars @oodlittlething @nonbinarychaoticstupid

[snapdragoncrown]

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

[snapdragoncrown]

lol! so true bestie *leans over to my body guard* you have to kill this clown right fucking now

[snapdragoncrown]

Tips for Writing a Difficult Scene

Every writer inevitably gets to that scene that just doesn't want to work. It doesn't flow, no matter how hard you try. Well, here are some things to try to get out of that rut:

1. Change the weather

I know this doesn't sound like it'll make much of a difference, but trust me when I say it does.

Every single time I've tried this, it worked and the scene flowed magically.

2. Change the POV

If your book has multiple POV characters, it might be a good idea to switch the scene to another character's perspective.

9/10 times, this will make the scene flow better.

3. Start the scene earlier/later

Oftentimes, a scene just doesn't work because you're not starting in the right place.

Perhaps you're starting too late and giving too little context. Perhaps some description or character introspection is needed before you dive in.

Alternatively, you may be taking too long to get to the actual point of the scene. Would it help to dive straight into the action without much ado?

4. Write only the dialogue

If your scene involves dialogue, it can help immensely to write only the spoken words the first time round.

It's even better if you highlight different characters' speech in different colors.

Then, later on, you can go back and fill in the dialogue tags, description etc.

5. Fuck it and use a placeholder

If nothing works, it's time to move on.

Rather than perpetually getting stuck on that one scene, use a placeholder. Something like: [they escape somehow] or [big emotional talk].

And then continue with the draft.

This'll help you keep momentum and, maybe, make the scene easier to write later on once you have a better grasp on the plot and characters.

Trust me, I do this all the time.

It can take some practice to get past your Type A brain screaming at you, but it's worth it.

So, those are some things to try when a scene is being difficult. I hope that these tips help :)

Reblog if you found this post useful. Comment with your own tips. Follow me for similar content.

[snapdragoncrown]

[snapdragoncrown]

I posted 97 times in 2021

26 posts created (27%)

71 posts reblogged (73%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.7 posts.

I added 157 tags in 2021

#war of heirs - 23 posts

#wof - 22 posts

#wip stuff - 21 posts

#writeblr - 19 posts

#wip - 17 posts

#wip moodboard - 12 posts

#moodboard - 12 posts

#writers - 11 posts

#wip character - 11 posts

#wip introduction - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 98 characters

#this is me both having no idea what to put for the letter j and wanting to show off the map i made

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

The War of Heirs || Alphabet

A is for Anya

Anya Volov is the fourth child of the Volov royal family, and the third daughter. She is not taken seriously by either of her sisters, but her cheerful mischief is also a comfort to them. In fact, her lively demeanor and hopeless romanticism makes the court as a whole view her as silly, and frankly, dumb. However, while she may not enjoy reading or sitting still, her ability to get anyone to tell her things and eavesdrop on what they won't make her quite a useful member of the family. When she starts to learn things she shouldn't, those around her start to see just how dangerous she could be if not dealt with.

Thanks to @inky-duchess for the alphabet idea!!

Pleas ask to be put on the tag list

16 notes • Posted 2021-05-05 04:02:29 GMT

#4

The War of Heirs || Alphabet

E is for Empress

The empress of Kiesvgrad is second only to the emperor. However, since the creation of the country the empress has always been the one in control, husband or not. The current empress is the formidable Nikita. Young when she first took the throne, many thought she was too inexperienced and too immature. However, during the 6 years she has been in power, she has shown herself to be strong, even bordering on cruel at times. The empresses throughout the country's history have been known for using manipulation and violence to expand the borders of their country, and there is much pressure for Nikita to follow in their footsteps.

Taglist: (please ask to be added!)

@inky-duchess @thats-my-type-writer

19 notes • Posted 2021-05-11 05:10:22 GMT

#3

The War of Heirs || Alphabet

F is for Fate

The concept of predestined life and undeniable fate is one that is widespread throughout the religions of the world. In Gataheimr, women were thought to be able to tell the future through specific rituals. Those who could were considered favored by the gods, and had much political sway. They were thought to be wise and otherworldly, some even thought that they were the daughters of gods. When Kiesvgrad invaded and occupied Gataheimr, this was thought heretical, and these rituals were banned. Kiesvgrad has an organized religion where men and women, but mostly men, use the weather, animals, and scrying in mirrors to predict events. According to their religion, their god granted the gift of prophecy to a select few, and they in turn passed it onto their children. There was a time when the Kiesvgrad people had faith in their Augurs, but as their predictions of prosperity did not match the evidence of the people's eyes, their faith dwindled. This religion came from the country of Uvador, and their people are far more devote.

Taglist: (Please ask to be added!!)

@inky-duchess @thats-my-type-writer

21 notes • Posted 2021-05-15 07:50:27 GMT

#2

The War of Heirs || Alphabet

C is for Consul

The Consul of Itaza is the most powerful position in the country. Itaza is run as an oligarchy, and there are 5 families that vote and run branches of the government. The Consul is elected by the families democratically, but suspiciously the last three have been elected from the Barone family. The Consul just died and his son, Cassius, just got "elected". He genuinely wants to help the people of his country, but, sheltered for most of his life, he doesn't know about the rampant corruption or the poverty that plagues the lower classes. As he is shot into a position of power, he can either continue to engage in his lavish lifestyle, or he can try to change his country despite the privileges it regularly affords him and his family.

Thanks to @inky-duchess for the idea!

21 notes • Posted 2021-05-07 00:50:26 GMT

#1

The War of Heirs || Alphabet

D is for Dvorstayv

The Dvorstayv are the ruling class in Kisevgrad. Before the country was formed, it was simply an amalgamation of nobility ruling over their own provinces. They were not lavish or wasteful, as their people's very existence relied on them to be strong and even feared. Then Morana, the grandmother of the current generation, started calling herself empress. Those who immediately surrendered and pledged loyalty to the royal family were elevated in position, those who did not were executed. Their children had their lands taken away and were raised at the palace, to be taught the "right" things. The result is a weak and controlled ruling class, one without knowledge or experience.

Taglist: (Please ask to be added!)

@inky-duchess @thats-my-type-writer

27 notes • Posted 2021-05-09 23:08:17 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #So what you're saying is that I have no hobbies outside of my wip #Got it

[snapdragoncrown]

The Magia Trials - Alphabet

A for Aquari

The Aquari are the merpeople. They descend from the god of the sea, and have water magic. They can take multiple forms, whether humans, mermen or even fishes. Their mission is to protect the seas and oceans of our world.

Ok so in honour of me finally starting to draft my new WIP (and in english this time !), I have decided to do this little alphabet to introduce it (I've seen @snapdragoncrown do it and thought it was a great idea).

Please ask to be put on the tag list for the next posts.

[snapdragoncrown]

So I just put the words creative writing in a article title generator and...

Aka the fear every writer faces

And other ways my mom doesn't believe in me

What smut fic writers whisper to themselves when writing

101 : Introductory class to creative writing

Everyone with an unfinished wip can help you with this

#wip meme #writeblr #lol

[snapdragoncrown]

Our Last Stand || Alphabet

A is for Ambassador

At the start of the story ,Victoria was sent away to Belyuche to serve as the Ambassador of the Triple Kingdom. Since belyuchen rules dictate that only a person of noble birth can represent their state and the Triple Kingdom's only trace of nobility is the royal family.And so Princess Victoria Leighton of Wyan was sent to the Belyuchen Empire.And as the war between ''Alliance'' and the Empire raged on, Victoria remained at her position , negotiating with the Tsar to stop the bloodshed.

inspired by @inky-duchess 's TLP alphabet .

tag list :@lexiklecksi

[snapdragoncrown]

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